LITERATURE OF BRAHMINISM 257
This short survey is enough to remove any doubt as to the age of this literature that it is post-Buddhistic. The survey establishes one more point of great significance. This literature arose during the period subsequent to the triumph of Brahmins under the leadership of Pushyamitra. The survey brings out one other point. Vyas writes Mahabharata. Vyas tells Bhagwat Gita, and Vyas also writes the Puranas. Mahabharata contains 18 Parvas, the Gita has 18 Adhyayas and the Puranas number 18. Is all this an Accident ? Or is it the result of a design planned and worked out in concert ? We must wait and see.
III
THE VEDANTA SUTRAS
The vedanta Sutras of Badarayana as has been pointed out already constitute a department of study on the same line as the Karma Sutras of Jaimini. It is natural to ask how the founders of these two schools of thought comfort themselves towards each other. When one begins to inquire into the matter one comes across facts which are revealing. In the first place as Prof. Belvalkar [1] points out, ‘the Vedanta Sutras are very closely modelled upon the Karma Sutras.’ In the matter of methodology and terminology, Badarayana almost slavishly follows Jaimini. He accepts Jaimini rules of interpreting the text of the Shruti. He uses Jaimin’s technical terms in the sense in which they have been used by Jaimini. He uses the very illustrations which are employed by Jaimini.
This is a matter for small wonder. But what is not a matter for small wonder is the attitude of the two schools towards each other in the matter of doctrine. Let me give an illustration.
Badarayana gives the following Sutras [2] as illustrative of the position of Jaimini towards the Vedanta.
- Because (the Self) is supplementary (to sacrificial acts), (the fruits of the knowledge of the Self) are mere praise of the agent, even as in other cases; thus says Jaimini.
“According to Jaimini the Vedas merely prescribe acts to attain certain purposes including Liberation, and nothing more. He argues that the knowledge of the Self does not yield any independent results, as Vedanta holds, but is connected with the acts through the agent. No one undertakes a sacrificial act unless he is conscious of the fact that he is different from the body and that after death he
1 Basu Mallick Lectures, p. 152.
2 Swami Vireswarananda—Brahma Sutras (Advaita Ashram Edition 1936), pp. 408-411.